“I am a small business owner, a medical doctor, and I am not a political insider.”

That was the beginning of a six-city tour for Dr. Jim Hines, who wants to be the next governor of Michigan.

The Saginaw obstetrician-gynecologist was the first Republican to jump into the race, but is expected to be joined in a crowded GOP field, including Attorney General Bill Schuette and Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, who are contemplating a race to replace Gov. Rick Snyder. Snyder can’t run again because of term limits.

On the Democratic side, former state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing has filed the paperwork to begin a gubernatorial campaign, and U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee of Flint is considering a run for the job.

On Thursday, Hines told an audience of more than a dozen people at a deli in Livonia that he wants to put people, rather than politics, first and concentrate on improving education in the state. As a father of seven sons, he said his children needed a wide variety of choice for their education.

“Five of my sons are married off and not a one of them live in Michigan. We’ve got to change that. We’ve got to create jobs in Michigan.” He said. “And education is critical for the survival of Michigan. … Our kids were homeschooled, went to public schools and went to parochial schools. Our seventh son is special needs and goes to a special needs school. There wasn’t one school that could handle all of our kids.”

A self-described Christian conservative, Hines said he’s not concerned about how few people know who he is or his inexperience in the political arena.

He has a plan to run a 5K race in every county of the state to get his name out. And he believes his skills working with a wide constituency of patients will overcome his lack of participation in politics.

Hines said he also would have dealt with the Flint water crisis much more quickly than Snyder.

"Before it became known that there was lead contamination, there was water that was brown and smelled bad and I wouldn’t have allowed that to continue," he said, referring to lead contamination that was caused when the city, which was under the authority of a state-appointed emergency manager, switched its water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which draws water from Lake Huron, to the Flint River.

The more corrosive Flint River water was improperly treated, causing lead to leach from the aging pipes into homes and businesses in the city.

"I don’t think they’re moving fast enough on Flint. All the resources of the state need to be taken to Flint. If I knew that people in a town were drinking contaminated water, I would have stopped it right like that," he said, snapping his fingers.

There isn’t any one thing, including the Flint water crisis, that prompted him to get into the race for governor, other than the “finger pointing and grandstanding” that he sees in Washington, D.C., and Lansing.

“That really bothers me. I’m a consensus builder,” he said. “And I just think that my skills will be very handy and what the state needs.”

Hines wouldn't be the first unknown to try for the state's top job. Snyder was a little-known businessman from Ann Arbor when he announced his campaign for governor in March 2009. And he faced a number of well-known Republicans vying for the job, including then-Attorney General Mike Cox, U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and state Sen. Tom George.

But Snyder had a couple of advantages that Hines won't enjoy: As a CEO and venture capitalist, Snyder poured more than $6 million of his own money into his race; and he was the lone moderate in a crowded Republican field of conservatives, who ended up splitting the vote and allowing Snyder to coast to a victory in the gubernatorial primary.

Hines says he's willing to contribute "millions" to his campaign, too. But as a Christian conservative, he will probably be in a field of like-minded and better-known candidates, like Schuette and Calley.

"I plan to put a lot of money into the campaign, whatever it takes,” he said. "I wouldn’t say I’m self- funding, but it could get into the millions."